Unemployment Shows Biggest Jump in a Generation

The new numbers “stunned economists,” who expected a more modest rise in the unemployment rate, to 5.1 percent, The Washington Post reports.

The Labor Department stated that employers cut 49,000 more jobs in May, and that the unemployment level rose among almost all groups: men, women, teenagers, whites and blacks. The number for Hispanics was unchanged, and it dropped slightly among Asians.

“Certainly this isn’t a report that we wanted to see today,” White House deputy press secretary Scott Stanzel said.

The higher-than-expected numbers indicate that the U.S. economy continues to struggle in the midst of a housing and credit crisis that some believe threatens to lead the country into a recession, if it hasn’t already.

The report also drew quick comments from the two leading presidential candidates, who used the topic to lash out at each other.

“The wrong change for our country would be an economic agenda based upon the policies of the past that advocate higher taxes, bigger government, government-run health care and greater isolationism. … We cannot afford to go backward as Senator Obama advocates,” Republican John McCain said.

Democratic candidate Barack Obama said, “This is a reminder that working families continue to bear the brunt of the failed Bush economic policies that John McCain wants to continue for another four years.”

The Associated Press reports that, so far this year, job losses have totaled 324,000. Workers with jobs did see modest salary gains—average hourly earnings for jobholders rose to $17.94 in May, up 0.3 percent from the previous month—but, with food and energy prices rising, the extra money does not go as far.

The U.S. unemployment rate reached approximately 5 percent in March as the depth of the country’s economic problem became more obvious. More than 28 million Americans were applying for food stamps at that point, the highest number since the program’s inception in the 1960s.

“Today’s news about unemployment is a stark reminder of the economic challenges facing American families. … Americans across this country are hurting and we must act now to support workers, families and employers alike,” McCain said in reaction to the new unemployment rate. Obama responded as well, saying that he is “offering change that will provide working families with a middle-class tax cut, affordable health care and college and an energy plan that will create up to 5 million good-paying jobs that can’t be outsourced.”

FindingDulcinea’s Web Guide to the U.S. Economy includes an outline of the history of the American economy, an overview of federal economic oversight organizations and suggestions for where to stay on top of financial news.